Black Immigrant Daily News

Despite lack of classroom space and teacher shortage concerns expressed by some school principals, Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the Sixth Form Pathways Programme will be moving forward this academic year.

Holness, who was speaking at an Education and Youth Ministry Town Hall meeting at Jamaica College in St Andrew at Friday, acknowledged that there have been concerns and complaints about the programme.

However, he urged school administrators and the ministry to cooperate to make the programme successful.

“There are some genuine concerns about it, because there has always been a traditional sixth form, and how does this traditional sixth form which is well-established compare to the additional two years,” Holness shared.

“Is it the same thing? Should it get the same resources? These are all issues that I think are well within our scope to resolve, but we cannot deny the fundamental intelligence behind extending the school years from five to seven,” he declared.

According to him, it is important to get more children enrolled in school and “keep them there as long as you can”.

The intention of the new sixth form programme is to offer students who complete grade 11 an opportunity to enrol and engage in skills-based or other academic-related courses alongside the traditional sixth form curriculum where the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) is offered.

Students have the option of leaving the programme with an occupational associate degree, certificate or diploma, or an accredited associate degree through the Council of Community Colleges of Jamaica (CCCJ) or University Council of Jamaica (UCJ).

Several educators and school administrators have, however, expressed concerns about the lack of classroom spaces to accommodate the students.

The latest school administer to express concern about the programme is Errol Bascoe, Principal of Tacky High School in Gayle, St Mary.

Bascoe, who spoke to the media last week, made it clear that his school will not be participating in the Sixth Form Pathways Programme because of a lack of space.

He explained, among other things, that he has to operate another campus of the school to accommodate grade seven students because more classrooms are needed at the main campus.

Linton Weir, the Principal of the St Catherine-based Old Harbour High School, in a radio interview three weeks ago, said he is faced with a similar challenge of finding more space to accommodate the students applying for the pathways programme.

Additionally, he stated that additional teachers are required for the programme.

“We will not be able to absorb them (the students) because we don’t have the space to absorb them and, two, we don’t have the teacher personnel to absorb them,” Weir said then.

But at Friday’s town hall meeting, Acting Chief Education Officer, Dr Kasan Troupe, said if schools do not have the spaces available, then sixth form coordinators should direct the students and their parents to other schools or tertiary institutions that are part of the Sixth Form Pathways Programme.

Troupe was responding to a parent who said her child’s school has no space to facilitate him in sixth form.

“To my surprise, I go to the school today (Friday) for him to get in to the sixth form now, and was told that he has to have three subjects to continue. So I want to know, who was it for?” questioned the parent.

In response, Troupe said: “We are cognisant that not every child will move at the same pace, and so, pathways learning programmes must be created for them.

“So pathways one is the traditional sixth form – five or more subjects… Pathway two will be for those students who have four (subjects) or less, with or without CSEC maths or English,” she said.

“… And if you didn’t get any (CSEC subject) at all, there is the pathway three for you, and we will get you into that language and literacy programme.

“We will get you your CSEC subjects done, and you will get two additional years of study to improve your output and outcome in society,” Troupe said.

In promising the parent to assist her after the town hall meeting, Troupe also reminded sixth form pathway coordinators that there are spaces for students in tertiary institutions.

“Not all high schools will be able to retain all our students, and we have been saying that from the beginning.

“This is why we partnered with the tertiary sector. Our tertiary sector is underutilised. When we did the space audit, we can accommodate over 25,000 students in the tertiary sector,” Troupe indicated.

“So there is no need to build. What we need to do is partner, to maximise on the resources, and that’s what we have done.”

Troupe said sixth form pathway coordinators have mapped out tertiary institutions located in close proximity to high schools.

For his part, Holness said more communication is needed among the stakeholders to get the relevant information on the programme to parents and the wider public.

NewsAmericasNow.com